A Kiba Inuzuka Love Story
by KibaGurl08
Summary: A/N:Has been edited! way better now! Zarae is new to the village, and has just met the guy of her dreams.  She is always underestimated and put down, but when she meets kiba, her life changes forever. A story of a undying relationship overcoming the worst


Chapter1- The Big Day

You wake up, and the sun is shining bright. But an even brighter thing is the smile on your face. Today is the day you finally become a Genin! You jump out of bed and put on your black baggy pants, (the ones that are super comfy) and your electric blue boob tube. You give your short black hair a brush, have some breakfast, brush your teeth and run out the door as fast as you can. You keep running until you reach the academy, where everyone is just as excited as you are.  
You glance around until you find your best friend, Shikamaru!  
"Hey Z!" he yells out to you.  
"Shikamaru!" you yell back. You and Shikamaru have been best friends ever since your first day at the academy. You are only new to the leaf village, and you're alone. With your parents still trying to stop the crime in the city, they think it was best for you to go to a place where you will be happy and doing what you love most, fighting. (But in a safe way).  
Shikamaru accepted you straight away. He saw you as an incredibly strong fighter, and like a little sister who he watched out for. And as lazy as he was, he decided that you would be someone who can motivate him.  
"Come over here! Where all waiting for you!" he started signalling his hand for you to come over. You start to get butterflies in your stomach, as you still kind of don't know anyone. You know Shikamaru, and Naruto Uzimaki. You kind of feel sorry for him, because he has no parents, but you think he is a really nice guy. You also know a quiet girl called Hinata, who you were sometimes paired to do activities with. And of course you know who Saskue is, because every girl in the academy drools over him, but the rest of the people you still didn't quite know.  
You swallow and nervously make your way over to Shikamaru. _What if they don't like me...._ you think. When you arrive to where Shikamaru is standing, you gaze at the group of people standing around you.  
"Everyone, i would like you to meet Zarae. She's kinda new and doesn't really know any of you, so treat her with respect, ok?"  
"H-Hey guys" you manage to spit out. You feel like an idiot. You haven't even been there two minutes and you are stuttering.  
"Now i couldn't be bothered to give you a full introduction on everyone, so ill just tell you there names. I'm sure you know Naruto..."  
"HEY ZARAE!" yells Naruto. His smile almost fills his entire face, and you could tell he is just as excited for the graduation ceremony as you are.  
You giggle. "hey Naruto" you say.  
" The blonde one here is Ino, and the other guy there is Choji." They both smile and say hello. _They seem friendly_, you think to yourself.  
Shikamaru started speaking again. "I'm sure you know who Saskue is, but the girl with the pink hair next to him is Sakura." Saskue nods and says hello, but it doesn't really seem like he cares.  
"Hey" you say, with a soft smile. You look up at Sakura, who kinda seems to be glaring at you. _Gee, what's with the blunt look? _You think to yourself. You decide to ignore it, because you don't want to start a fight and have an enemy you only just met today. "The other 3 people are Hinata, who i think you already know, Shino Abrume, and Kiba Inuzuka. You look up at the guy who is carrying a little white dog_. Wow,_ He must have been the hottest guy you had ever seen! Why would every one drool over Saskue when they had him!?

"H-Hey.." you manage to stutter as you look at Kiba. His skin is so toned and tanned, and he has nice eyes. "Hey, nice to meet you" says kiba, offering out his hand. You shake it, and then quickly look down as you are starting to blush. _There's something about this guy...._ "it's nice to meet you too." You smile. You look up into his eyes, only to find him gazing back into yours. _How the hell have i not noticed this guy before!!_ You slowly let go of his hand, even though you don't want to .  
"Well, that's everyone." Says Shikamaru. All of a sudden you here a bell, and everyone looks to the front. Iruka sensei is standing at the micro phone, with a bunch of leaf village head bands in his hands and about to give a speech. A smile spreads across your face. _This is it,_ you say to yourself.

Chapter 2- After The Ceremony

You hold your hand band in your hands, gazing at the beautiful shine it had in the sun. You wrap it around your left arm, because you thought it looked funny on your head. "Congratulations" you hear someone say from behind you. You spin around sharply to find kiba standing behind you.  
You immediately blush. _Stupid cheeks... _ You think to yourself. "Thanks, you to" you say with a smile. He smiles back, and puts his hands in his pockets. "It looks good on you" he says softly. You can't help but smile, and blush a little more. "Thanks, yours doesn't look to bad either!" you both start to laugh, and when you are both finished, he starts to speak. "Did you uh.... did you need someone to walk you home?" he says as he looks down at the ground and kicks softly at the dirt. "Sure," you say. "That would be nice". _Score!_  
As you walk down a street in Konoha, you ask kiba a lot about himself, and you start to talk and play with his dog, akamaru. You never knew that walking home could be so much fun! As you reach your house, he walks you to the door. You don't really want to go, because you are having too much fun! "Do you want to come in?" you ask him.  
"Sure, I'd like that." he says back. You both make your way to the lounge room, where you sit next to each other on the lounge. He then starts to ask you questions about yourself. "So how come I've never seen you before? You're kind of hard to miss..." he says. You blush-AGAIN. _He is so sweet!_ "I'm not sure, i was kinda thinking the same thing about you..." you reply. He smiles and looks into your eyes. "You're different." He says. "Tell me about yourself."  
"Well, you got different right. I'm a saiyan, but I suppose you don't know what that is..."  
"But you can tell me?" he replies.  
"ok." you say. "It's a human like race from a place called planet vegeta. It's a clan that was pretty much born to fight, whether we liked it or not. But our planet was destroyed long before i was born and me, my mum, my uncle and two of he's sons are the only ones left. Bet you think I'm weird now, don't you...."  
"Weird? Why would i think that? Everyone has a story, Zarae. Yours just happens to be different."  
You look up at him, thinking that this guy really understands you. You feel happy, and relieved that he didn't think you were some kind of alien freak.  
"But what about your dad? Was he... killed as well?" he asks. "I don't mean to be rude..."  
"Oh, I forgot to tell you about him!" you laugh. "My dad is human, so that makes me half saiyan, half human. He is a martial artist, and he is still alive" you both laugh, and before you know it, time has flown and it is 8 o clock.  
"Well, I better be getting home. Thanks for the amazing afternoon." He says, smiling at you softly.  
"No worries" you reply. "Thank you for walking me home." He made his way to the door, and before he walks out he turns to you and asks you a question. "I don't know how to really say this, but..."

"What is it?" you ask. Your heart starts to race. Was this just some prank they pull on the new kids? Was him just being nice to you this afternoon all fake? What is it that he is going to say?  
"Would you.... would you like to come out to dinner with me tomorrow night? Its shino's birthday and it would mean a lot to me if you would come..."  
Your heart stops. OMG. He wants to see you again! You start to smile.  
"You mean, like a date?" you ask.  
"You can say that" he replies, smiling back.

Chapter 3- The first date  
You finish training, and rush home as fast as you can_. I can't believe you're going out on a date with the hottest guy in the leaf village! ___You have been excited all day. Even Kakashi sensei could pick out that you were happy.

Today was much more different than when you were in the academy. You now have teams, and you were on team 7 with Naruto, (you were happy to be on a team with him, he makes you laugh!) Saskue and miss death stare herself, Sakura. Team 7 was special because it was the only squad with 4 members. But as much as it was different, you loved every second of it. You trained your ass off, but now you have to rush home and get clean before your big date!  
You take a shower, do your hair, apply a tiny bit of make up and _try _to get dressed. You just have no idea what to wear! You're not a girlie girl, so you decide to defiantly not wear a dress. In the end you decide to wear a pair of black skinny leg jeans, and an aqua halter neck top. It's plain, but pretty.  
Then there is a knock at the door_. He's here! _ Your heart starts to race again, and the nerves start to kick in. _Don't worry_, you tell yourself. _He's a nice guy, and you're going to have a lot of fun tonight_  
You run down to the door and answer it. You see kiba, in baggy denim jeans and a plain black T-shirt_. Damn, he looks hot! _ He smiles and looks you up and down. "You look beautiful" he says. You look him in the eyes and smile. "Thanks, you don't look to bad yourself" you say cheekily.  
You walk to one of the restaurants in Konoha, where all the people you met yesterday are there as well. They all start to yell out hello, until they see that you are with kiba, and they all kind of look confused. "I'm going to go and say happy birthday to shino, would you save me a spot at the table?" Kiba says.  
"Sure, what seat would you like me to save you?" You reply, gazing around at the few empty chairs beside the table. "The one next to you, of course" he says, giving a cheeky smile and walking off to greet shino. You giggle, and then walk to find two empty seats to the left of Ino and Shikamaru.  
"Well look at you miss Zarae!" says Ino, smiling at you. "You look like a princess!"  
"Gee, thanks Ino! You look pretty as well" you smile back. You then glance over at Shikamaru who is smiling cheekily at you. "What's going on here?" he says. You know what he is talking about straight away, but say you don't know what he's trying to say.  
"Are you and Kiba-On a date?"" he asks, gently nudging you in the arm. You start to blush.  
"You could say that, I guess" you say, looking down at your feet. Shikamaru chuckles, and turns back to his food. "What's so funny about that?" you laugh, softly punching him in the arm.  
Ino smiles at you, and crosses her arms. "Well well well," she starts. "Z is on a date with one of the leaf village bad-asses!" she laughs. You laugh to, but feel confused. Bad Ass? He barley seems like a rebel to you.  
"It's funny what women can do to you..." says Shikamaru. "One minute you can be you, and the next you meet a girl who you want to change for."  
The Next minute you feel some one holding your hand. You turn to your left to find kiba sitting next to you. "Hey, sorry I took so long" he says. "I hope you're not mad..."  
You laugh. "Why would I be mad for?" he smiles and looks into your eyes. That's what you liked about kiba. He always looks into your eyes, and nowhere else. It's like he was looking at a treasure, or seeing this amazing person only he could see. And then you realised how soft his skin was. You are only holding his hand, but it was like you never wanted to let go.  
As the night went on, you get talking to Ino and Hinata, and by the end of the night it is like you have known them for years. You and kiba say goodbye to everyone, and he walks you home. By the time you arrive at your place, the sky is dark, and the stars light up the streets. Kiba stands in front of you, his hands around your waste. You look up at his eyes, noticing the moon lighting up his face. "Thank you for coming with me tonight, Zarae" he says, moving a tiny bit closer. Your stomach starts to fill with butterflies. "It's ok, kiba- I had a great time. Thank you for inviting me..." you stare at each other for about 10 seconds, and he leans in to kiss you. You lock lips, and he kisses you gently, softly. _Damn, this guy can kiss! _ Slowly, he pulls away, and his eyes look into yours. "Wow," he says. "Yeah, wow" you reply, with a smile. "Zarae..." he starts to whisper.  
"Can you do me a big favour and.... and come with me to the Konoha carnival which is in a few weeks?" he says. You look at him, and rest your hands on his shoulders. "How could I say no?" He pulls you closer to him, and gives you one last kiss before you both go home to bed.

Chapter 4- Playful nights before the carnival  
Its the day after your big date, and your lying in bed just thinking about last night's kiss over and over again. _It was so perfect, _and you wouldn't have changed anything. But then you glance at the time. Fuck! Its nine o clock!!! You were meant to meet Kakashi sensei at the training field at seven thirty! You get up as quick as you can and get dressed. You decide to skip breaky; you didn't have time to eat. You brush your teeth and run out the door, straight down to the training field. When you arrive, Naruto and Saskue are sparing, with Kakashi and Sakura watching. When Kakashi sees you, he immediately calls you over. "You're late Zarae." He says sternly_. Who are you to speak_, you thought to yourself.  
"Sorry Kakashi... I slept in and forgot about the time.... but I will stay back and train overtime if you want me to. I don't mind..." you figured that's all you could really say. Being late is bad, but by 2 and half hours ....  
"You're a Genin now, Zarae. You need to be more responsible than this, turning up to training late by 2 and a half hours is unacceptable." Kakashi warns.  
You look down, disappointed with yourself. How could it be that a perfect night resulted in a horrible morning? "Sorry Kakashi sensei. It won't happen again." When you glance up, you can see Sakura smirking at you. You could tell that it made her happy when she saw you get in trouble. _What the hell have you done to her??? Why is she like this towards you?_  
You were meant to finish training at 3:30, but as you promised, you stayed back an extra 2 and a half hours. It was 6 o clock when you start to walk home. You wish you didn't have to cook dinner, So you came up with an idea. Why not get take away ramen?

As you walk towards the ramen shop, you see Naruto there, feeding his face. You smile to yourself. You walk up to where he is sitting, and sit down next to him. "Hey Naruto" you say. He turns around and smiles. "Zarae!" he yells excitingly. "Did you only just finish training now? Gee, you look buggered!" he says, his mouth stuffed with ramen. He turns around to hear your reply. "Yeah, I only just finished now, and I am buggered, thanks for noticing" you laugh. This kid was always so positive. You couldn't help but cheer up when you're around him.  
The next thing you know you here a voice yelling out your name from behind you. "Zarae!" they yelled. You glance back to see Hinata and Ino running towards you. "Hey guys, what's up?" you ask them. They sit down beside you. "How did your date with Kiba go?" asks Ino.  
'it was really great" you reply, suddenly again thinking about the kiss. Ino smiles.  
"I guess he is taking you to the carnival in a couple of weeks, am I right?" she says.  
"Yeah he is, I'm really looking forward to it. Is anyone taking you Ino?" you ask. She shrugged. "Well I was kinda hoping Saskue was, but he's been spending a lot of time with sakura lately." Her smile starts to fade. "So I guess I shouldn't even bother asking."  
"Don't say that" you say, trying to comfort her. "What's the big deal with Saskue anyway? I don't see why everyone wants him so bad. There are plenty of other decent guys out there."  
Ino looks at you with a confused expression. "Are you telling me that you don't think Saskue is hot?" she asks. "Well... to be honest, I would rather kiba." You reply. There is an awkward silence. You don't know why though, it was like she was kind of socked that you weren't interested in Saskue. You turn to her and ask her a question. "What about Shikamaru?"  
She looks at you and giggles. "SHIKAMARU?" she yells. "Why would I take him?"  
"Well, he is a great guy, and he respects women. Sure, I know he is lazy but he is good looking and he will take care of you. He is my best friend. I know what he is like."  
She agrees with you and nods. A smile started to spread across her face. "I'll ask him for you the next time i see him, ok Ino?" You say.  
"Really? You would do that?" she reply's happily.  
"Of course." You smile. After you finish your ramen and say good bye to everyone, you walk home. You walk straight up to your bed and exhaustedly fall onto it. You are just about to fall asleep when you hear the doorbell ring. You walk down to answer it and see kiba. You almost die of embarrassment. You are all dirty and haven't taken a shower, and the guy you have a mad crush on is just at your door.  
"Kiba!" you yell, hiding your face behind the closest object you can find. He walks in and pulls the vase you were hiding behind away from your face. "What's the matter?" he asks. "Did I do something wrong?"  
"NO! No, of course not!" you reply. "it's just that... I slept in this morning and was 2 and a half hours late for training, so I didn't finish till 5:30, and then I got caught up at the ramen shop talking to Ino and then you got here and I haven't had a shower and you will think I'm gross and-"  
before you can finish he takes hold of you and pulls you close to his body. You can feel his abs press against your stomach, and you can feel his breath on your lips.  
"I wouldn't care if you were covered in mud and in your pyjamas" he says. "I think you're beautiful all the time." He kisses you, gently holding your body against his. You rest your arms upon his shoulders, continuing to kiss him_. His kisses are so gentle, his touch is so soft..._ you think to yourself. After 2 minutes of hooking up, you sit down on the lounge with him. You sit on his lap, and he gently cuddles you around your waste. You muck around, pretending to wrestle and rolling around on the lounge, laughing and joking for about 2 hrs. When it reaches 9 o clock, you find that he is lying on top of you, gently kissing you and cuddling each other. "Kiba...." you whisper, as he looks into your eyes. "I don't want to go too far yet" you say as you run your hands through his hair.  
"Of course you don't" he whispers back. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, and I would never pressure you into doing something you don't want to." He kisses your neck and you both slowly drift to sleep in each other's arms.

Chapter 5- The Carnival Draws Near

It's the day before the carnival, and you feel like the happiest girl in the world. The past few weeks have been amazing, and you are really starting to fall for Kiba. You are also getting along really good with everyone, Ino and Hinata have been coming over to your house and they are now really good friends. You have also set Shikamaru and Ino up on a date for the carnival, so you feel very accomplished.  
As you walk to your afternoon training class, you see Shikamaru walking up ahead. "Hey Shikamaru!" you yell. He turns around and see's you, so he stops. "Hey Z." He says, looking into the clouds. "What's up?"  
"Not much, just walking to my afternoon training class. Why aren't you training? You ask.  
"Asuma is shouting Choji to a BBQ and I'm not really hungry, so I was just going to go back home and sleep." He replies.  
"Yeah, sounds like something you would do!" you laugh, and Shikamaru smiles. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?" you ask, changing the subject.  
"Nervous? Why would I be?" You stare at Shikamaru. He actually seems very laid back, he doesn't look nervous at all. Ino on the other hand, talked about it all the time, and was extremely nervous. (But excited at the same time.) "Well, just because it's a date and all.... I thought maybe you would be a little nervous" you say.  
"Nah. It's just a date. And who knows if anything will happen. I just go with the flow." You smile at Shikamaru_. I know I wasn't anything like that on my first date with kiba!_  
'But what about you Z?" Shikamaru starts to say. "How are you and Kiba? You two have been spending a lot of time with each other lately." he smirks and nudges you in the arm. You giggle, and start to tell him about the amazing afternoons you have been spending together. He laughs, and say's that it's corny. But you just laugh to, because everything was either boring, to hard or corny for Shikamaru. "But Zarae...." he starts to say. You look at him strangely. His tone of voice changed and it was a lot more serious now. "yeah, what is it Shikamaru?' You reply. He looks down at the ground and puts his hands in the pockets of his pants. "Has Kiba..... Tried to... You know... pressure you into doing anything you don't want to?" he says. You gently smile at Shikamaru.  
"You mean, like sex?" you ask. You knew that was what he is talking about, but you thought it would be funny to see Shikamaru actually get deep into something for once, instead of just shrugging it off.  
"Yeah, something like that I guess. Because if he ever hurts you, you have to tell me. I won't let him get away with treating you like dirt. You're like my little sister Z. I'm here if anything bad happens, ok?"  
You smile at Shikamaru and give him a hug. "Shikamaru, I don't know why everyone thinks kiba is some jerk, because he isn't. He treats me with care, and we talk about things that we are unsure of. He respects my decisions. So there's no need to worry."

Shikamaru nods, and walks you to the training field. When you get there, you can see Saskue staring at you from the corner of your eyes. You turn to look at him, but he quickly looks away. _That was weird...._. You decide to spare with Saskue today, because you know that he is the one you want to beat to earn respect from lady hokage. She has some weird grudge against you, because you are a saiyan and therefore you do not have ninja blood. So she always treats you like your lower than everyone else. But you decided that if you can beat Saskue in the chunin exams, you will earn respect off her.  
"Nice work today Zarae." Says Saskue as the training session ends. You turn and say thank you, and as you were about to compliment him back you see sakura death staring you, her face starting to go red. _What is the deal with her!_ It seems that she has some mad thing against you, even though you don't know what it is. You decide to ignore it-ONCE AGAIN- and head off home.  
You decide that you are going to go and pick up Kiba from training, and walk home with him. As you reach team 8's training area, you see kiba standing next to shino and Hinata. He didn't have a shirt on and you couldn't help but smile as you saw his tanned abs. _Wow, this guy is so fucking hot!! _ He wipes his face with a towel, and spots you standing at the entrance. A smile spreads across his face as he runs over to you and picks you up, kissing you happily. His body is warm, and you can feel his heart racing against your chest. (Because he had just finished fighting.)  
"How's my beautiful baby girl?" he asks, as he slowly lowers you back down to the ground.  
"Way better now that I've seen you!" you reply, leaning in to kiss him again. You could hear Hinata giggling behind him, and when you finished kissing kiba you give her wave. She waves back, and started to walk home.  
The rest of the afternoon you and kiba do the usual, go back to your house and just muck around, having fun. He didn't try anything, as he respected that it had only been a few weeks since you first started to see each other. He knew you didn't want to rush into things to early, so he decided to wait until you were ready. You feel kind of bad though, because you were making him wait. You didn't want him to get bored and leave you, so you decided to talk about it.  
"Kiba..." you start to say.  
"What is it babe?" he says as he cuddles you tightly around your waste. You take a deep breath, and look into his eyes. "I know that... I know that you want to do stuff.... and if you really wanted to, I guess we can..." you lower your eyes, losing the eye contact you had. He grabs your hand, and holds it tightly in his.  
"Zarae..." he says. "I do want to, because I really, really like you. But it's because I love you, I can wait. There is a lot more in this relationship that I want than just sex... I want you. And I can wait forever if that's what it takes. But just as long as I have you forever, the other stuff can wait. I love you Z."  
A tear rolls down your face. He wipes it away, softly brushing his hand over your cheek_. He just said he loved you! _ You stare into his eyes, and he kisses you so gently, you have to pinch yourself to see it was real.  
"I love you to, Kiba"

Chapter 6- Konoha Carnival, True Love  
You wake up the next morning to find yourself lying in your bed. That's weird. You thought you fell asleep on the lounge with Kiba?  
You turn around to find a note on the bed. It reads:  
Morning babe, hope you had a good sleep. You crashed last night so I carried you to your bed so you would sleep better. Can't wait for tonight, love Kiba x x x  
you smile_. I love you _You whisper.  
You have the day off today, so you ring Ino and Hinata to come and get ready for the carnival at your place. You all look really good, and decide that you, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Naruto and Kiba will all head off to the carnival as a group. When they all arrive, Kiba comes up and hugs you.  
"You just keep getting prettier every day" he says, holding you tight. You smile, and kiss him. You glance over at Ino and Shikamaru, who are awkwardly standing next to each other.  
"Doesn't Ino look pretty, Shikamaru?"You say.  
"Yeah, I guess." He replies. _Hmm, great start_ you think to yourself. _They should become more comfortable as the night goes on._  
It is around 8:30, and you are having a ball. You, kiba, Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto have gone on every single ride possible. You have been laughing all night, and you are noticing Ino and Shikamaru doing the same.  
"I'm going to go get something to eat, would you like me to get you anything?" kiba asks.  
"No thanks, I'm not that hungry, but thanks anyway " you reply. Kiba runs off to one of the food stands, and then you feel someone tap on your shoulder. You turn around quickly to find sakura glaring at you with her arms folded.  
"Uh, is everything ok?" you ask her. _Not that you really cared..._  
"NO. Everything is not ok! Stay the fuck away from Saskue, ok?" she yells. _What the fuck is she talking about? _  
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about sakura, but I don't even talk to Saskue. If you haven't realised, I'm with kiba."  
She starts to clench her fists. "I know you have a mad crush on him, Zarae. He doesn't stop talking about you. And if you go near him again, I swear to god ill hit you."  
You are so confused. Saskue? Talking about me? What the hell is going on?  
"Well get this straight. I don't like Saskue, you can have him. I love kiba, so you can take all your threats and fuck off, ok?"  
She turns away and disappears into the crowd. You then find kiba standing next to you, with a confused expression on his face. "What just happened?" he asks.  
"I think Saskue likes me, and sakura isn't happy about it.." you begin to say. Kibas expression starts to change. "Well, do you like him?" he says, with a hint of sadness in his voice.  
"OF COURSE NOT!" You say, grabbing hold of his hands. "I love you, Kiba".  
His smile reappears, and he lifts you off your feet. "That's my girl" he says, as he kisses you underneath the colourful lights of the fares wheel.  
An hour later you walk out of the maze of mirrors laughing. You caught up with Ino and Shikamaru who were starting to get along really well, and you decide as a group to go into the maze of mirrors and see which couple make it out the fastest. Ino and Shikamaru would of won, but Ino was too busy looking at her reflection to notice that Shikamaru had already begun. It was close though, because kiba used his strong sense of smell to find your way out. And he didn't let go of your hand the whole time .  
As you walk past all the prize stands, kiba turns to you and tells you something.  
"There's something I want to show you." He says, grabbing hold of your hands.  
"What is it?" you ask, slightly confused.  
"You'll see." He says, smiling as he leads you into the forest.  
He walks onto one of the trails that lead to team 8's training ground. But you turn to your left before you reach it, veering off onto another trail hidden behind a bunch of shrubs. You walk for about another 3 minutes, before he stops you and starts to speak.  
"Close your eyes," he says softly. You do what he asks, and then you laugh.  
"What's going on?" you say as you kinda fall over a log. He catches you before you fall though, and decides he will put his hands over your eyes and guide you. When you stop walking, he leans closer and wraps his arms around you waste.  
" ok, open your eyes." He says, cuddling you from behind. You open your eyes and gasp. Surrounding you is a tropical lagoon, lit up by the night sky. A waterfall sparkles about 20 meters in front of you, as the water splashes into the lagoon below.  
"It's... It's amazing..." you manage to say. You are shocked. _This place is so beautiful. It's like something out of a fairy tale...._  
He turns your waste around so you face him. Pulling you closer to him, he smiles and kisses you slowly. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he says, glancing around the lagoon. You're so speechless that all you can do is nod. "How did you find it?" you ask him.  
"Me and akamaru discovered it when I was a little boy. We have never told anyone about it though, because I figured that I would show it to someone special. And that someone is you." You blush and your heart melts instantly. You feel like you want to cry because you're so happy.  
He starts to walk down to the waterhole, and as he reaches the edge he starts to take off his shirt.  
Again you can't help but to stare at his amazing body. You start to giggle. "What are you doing?" you ask him. "Going for a swim silly," he replies. "And I'm hoping you will join me"  
"But its freezing!" you say as he dives in. He reaches the surface and shakes his head. "This place is like a hot spring. The water is warm, kind of like a bath." He says back. You decide that you want to join him. I mean, you're not going to pass up the opportunity of seeing his abs, are you?  
You strip down into your bra and undies and dive in. The water is beautiful, the perfect temperature. You don't feel awkward being around him half naked at all. You splash and play around in the water for about 5 minutes, and then he pulls you into him. You wrap your legs around his waist and look into his eyes. He stares back into yours, and kisses your neck. "You're so beautiful, you know that?" he says, holding you tight against his body. You hold him back, and take in every moment. His smell, his body heat, his taste.... you love it all. "And you're so amazing." You reply, kissing him deeply.  
He carries you out of the water and wraps his jacket around you. "But won't you be cold?" you ask, offering it back. "Nah, I'll be fine. I don't want you getting sick, and plus I have you to cuddle up with so how could I get cold?" you both laugh as you lay back and look up at the stars. Then you face each other, and kiss a little more. It was at that point you realised you were ready.  
You slowly pull him on top of you, and wrap your hands around his shoulders. "Kiba.... I think I'm ready." You say, pressing him against you. He looks into your eyes and kisses you again. "Zarae... are you sure?" he asks, running his hands through your hair. Your heart starts pounding, but you know that you want to do this. You had only known him for a few weeks, but it felt like years. He was the one, and the only person you would want to do it with. "Yeah..." you reply, kissing him softly. He looks away, and you can see a sad expression on his face. "What's wrong?" you ask him, as you turn his face to look at yours. "I don't want you to feel pressured to do this Zarae. It's not something you have to do just to make me happy... I told you I will wait till your ready..." his voice trails off as you kiss him again. "But I am ready, kiba. Sure, I'm nervous... But there's a difference between nerves and not wanting to do something. And I do want this."  
He kisses you again. "If this is what you want." he whispers.  
"It is, I promise..." you whisper back.  
He takes off his pants, and then yours. You feel him ease inside you, and you flinch. "Ow..." you whisper as he faces you. "Are you ok?" He asks with concern. "Am I hurting you? Tell me if I am and ill stop if you want...."  
You hold him tight and whisper in his ear. "I'm ok.... it just hurts a bit. But I'm fine..." He looks into your eyes and kisses you gently. "We need to make a way that when you hurt, I hurt to. That way, we're in it together." He says. "Maybe when I accidently hurt you, you can scratch me, so that way we both feel pain." You smile and a tear roles down your face. "I love you" you say as you kiss again.  
Slowly he moves over you, his shoulders blocking out the moon. You run your hand down his abs, as he kisses your neck. You feel a sharp pain, and you squeeze your eyes shut. "I'm so sorry Z..." he says as he looks sadly into your eyes. " I hate that I'm hurting you... I can stand a bit of pain, but I can't stand to watch yours." he continues.  
"Your so sweet. But I'm fine; it's only a bit of pain, it's not going to kill me." You say. He keeps going, and after a while it feels okay. You run your hand across his strong muscular back. As he slowly arches over you, he kisses you tenderly. He always checks up on you, asking if you are ok, caring about your every thought and emotion. "Zarae..." he moaned silently, as he finished and you both collapsed breathlessly onto the soft grass. He holds you firmly against his exhausted body, panting slowly as he whispers in your ear. "I love you more than anything in the world." You look into his eyes, staring at the amazing guy lying beside you. That moment was perfect, and you could never have pictured it in a better way. " I love you to Kiba, always and forever."

Chapter 7 - The Problem After

Last night he carried you home, and cuddled you as you fell asleep. Now you wake up, and find he is still doing the same thing. You smile and kiss him on the cheek_. He is so cute when he sleeps! _ Your mind drifts back to last night. _It was so perfect.... and it bought you so much closer to him_. And the best thing was, he didn't ditch you in the morning- you wake up and he is still holding you tight by his side. As you lift the sheet off of your body, you hop off the bed and something grabs your hand.  
"Where are you going beautiful?" he asks, pulling you back onto the bed. You laugh, and sit on top of him. You lean in and kiss him on his lips. "To get some breaky, did you want some?" You ask, smiling. He kisses you a little more, and changes the subject.  
"How do you feel Z..." he asks you, with a hint of concern in his voice. You look intently into his eyes.  
"Actually..." you begin to say. "I feel great. Last night was amazing and I wouldn't have changed anything. It was perfect." He smiles sensitively and hugs you. You give him one last kiss before you walk downstairs to get breakfast. As you pour a bowl of cereal, you see something move suddenly behind you. You turn around, only to see nobody there. "Kiba?" you say with a hint of confusion in your voice. You figure that maybe you are just tired and seeing things. The next minute you feel someone come up from behind you and wrap his hand around your mouth. You yell, but can't be herd because of his hand.  
"So I've finally found you..." says the voice. It was deep, and it was defiantly a man. You then realise that you know this person... it's the same guy that tried to kill you and your mum when you were fighting in west city with your parents. You remember him saying something about wanting to kill  
the last of the saiyans to get their blood, so he can inject it into him and become stronger. You thought your dad had killed him though, but he's back.....  
You jab your elbow into his rib cage. He coughs in pain as you wind him, and he releases you. You turn around and punch him in his face, and he flies across the room and smashes into the stair case. You run over to finish him off, but you then see Kiba running down the stairs. "What the hell is going on?" he yells, looking at the beat up man lying on the ground. You take your eyes off the man for a minute and glance up at kiba. But as you let your guard down, he jumps up and grabs you from behind again, this time holding a knife to your neck. _Shit..._ you think, as you run out of ideas to do. "Kiba, you need to go, or you will get hurt..." you say, your voice trembling.  
"No fucking way!" he yells, starring at the man behind you. "You let her fucking go now or I'll kill you." He says. You could see the anger building up inside him. His expression had changed, and you watch as he clenches his fists. Kiba quickly dashes toward him, and punches him in the side of his face. He didn't release you though, but he lifted his knife and stabbed you underneath your right ribcage. You cry in pain, and kiba hits him again. This time, he releases you, and runs out the door. "I'll be back for you later!" he yells as he leaves the house and into the streets hidden in the leaves.  
"Zarae!" Kiba cry's out as he rushes over to you. You lie in the corner of the room, clenching your wound tightly. It was deep, and you were losing a lot of blood. Everything starts to blur. "Z, Z! Look at me Z, Stay with me!" he yells as he holds you in his arms. "Don't go Zarae.... please stay...." You feel a warm tear drop on your forehead, as you slowly pass out. 

As you slowly regain conscience, everything in the room blurs around you. You begin to make out two figures in the room. One was Kakashi sensei, and the other was an Anbu black opp.  
"Where... where am I?" you manage to say as you slowly sit up.  
"Hey, take it easy." Says Kakashi as he lowers you back down. You cry out as a sharp pain shoots through your lower stomach. "Ow that fucking hurts..." you moan as you grip your wound.  
"Don't try to do anything." Says Kakashi. You look around the room, only to notice kiba wasn't there.  
"Where's Kiba?!" You yell, starting to panic. Your heart starts to race. _Is he hurt? Did something happen to him? Where is he?_  
_"_Calm down Zarae!" yells Kakashi, his voice growing sterner. You do what he says, even though you feel like you want to cry. "Now, do you remember what happened?" he asks, a lot calmer now. "Yeah... Some of it..." you say, trying to remember how you got here. You tell him the story, about how you had known the man before the attack. When you finished, you immediately ask Kakashi where kiba is. "He's ok Zarae. He brought you to the hospital about 3 hours ago. You have an incredibly deep wound underneath your right rib cage. It tore many of your lower stomach muscles and you lost a lot of blood. You're lucky kiba brought you here, because you could have died."  
You start to break down. Kakashi places hid hand on yours. "It's ok Zarae. Your safe now, you have the protection of me and an Anbu black opp. You don't have to worry, you will be ok."  
You look up at Kakashi, a tear rolling down your face. "Thank you Kakashi sensei. I appreciate it..... But is it possible to see Kiba now? I really need to be with him..."

He nods, and tells the Anbu black opp to wait outside the room. As they leave, the door sings open again, and kiba runs into the room. "Zarae!" he yells rushing over to be by your side. You could see he was clearly upset and distressed, as you could see his hands shaking. "Kiba..." you sob, as you bury your head into the curve between his neck and shoulders. He holds you tight- tighter than ever before. "I'm so sorry Z..." he starts to say. His voice was trembling, like he was trying to hold back tears. "You don't have to be sorry kiba, this is none of your fault..." you say, still hugging him. "Yes it is Z.... I'm your boyfriend, I'm meant to protect you. Just one simple thing I had to do, but I cant even do that..." his voice trailed off as he looks away. He clenches his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut. "I'm worthless... And you deserve some one a lot better than me..." he says. You start to cry.  
"Don't you dare say that!" you say heatedly. "If it wasn't for you Kiba, I wouldn't be here! I would be dead right now! But because you were there for me, I'm alive, and I still have you! Don't you dare go putting yourself down like that!" you burry your face in your hands. _You can't believe he would say something like that... he knows you love him... _  
He cradles your head against his chest, and runs his hands through your hair. "I love you." He says, as you let him lie down next to you in the hospital bed, and you both fall asleep in each other's arms.

Chapter 8- Slowly Healing

You have to stay in hospital for 2 weeks until your wound heals. It's really painful, but it is slowly getting better. Kiba and Shikamaru visit you every day, and Ino and Hinata pop in when they can. But today Hinata is the first to visit you. "Hey Zarae," she says. You talk about the carnival, but you don't tell her about you and kiba. "So how was your night with Naruto?" you ask her. You know she has a mad crush on him and often tell her to say something to him, but she is too shy. _She'll tell him in time..._ you often say to yourself. "It was.. Uh.. Ok.. I guess..." she replies, slightly blushing.  
"Is there something you're not telling me Miss Hyuga?" you say cheekily. She looks at you and giggles. "He kissed me" she replies, smiling. You smile back, and feel proud of her. That's a big step for Hinata, and you feel happy for her. "Naw, how cute!" you begin to say. Her smile then begins to fade, and you ask her what's wrong. "But then he ditched me for sakura..." she says. You now feel sorry for her. "Don't take it to heart, Hinata... Naruto is kind of immature for his age so he probably didn't realise he was hurting your feelings." You talk about it for a bit more before she has to leave. About 10 minutes later, Shikamaru walks in.  
"Shikamaru!" you happily yell before he sits next to you on the bed.  
"How's the cripple today?" he asks mischievously. You smile and push him off the bed. He falls on the ground and starts laughing. You would laugh to, but it hurts too much. So you just do some extra smiling . You start talking about the carnival for the first time since you have been in the hospital, and you begin to ask him about Ino.  
"So what did you and Ino get up to at the carnival?" you ask, smiling cheekily. He puts his hands behind his head and looks up to the roof. "Just stuff." He replies. Your mouth drops slightly, because you didn't think that they would really do anything- well not yet anyway. "Just stuff?" you ask, holding back your giggles. "I couldn't be bothered explaining it all.' He says. Your smile widens.  
"C'mon, you have to tell me. I'm your best friend, Remember?" you say as you give him a nudge in the arm. He makes a sluggish moan, and begins to tell you what happened.  
"Well when I got home I took some of dads' alcohol, and got a bit tipsy. I met up with her a bit later, and she wanted a drink so I got her one. We both got a little drunk and fooled around a bit, but nothing to serious." He says.  
You burst out in laughter. You stop yourself though, because your stomach starts to ache. "How is that funny?" he smirks. "I don't know, just because it's you... and Ino! You are just two of my closest friends and I guess it's a bit weird. But it's cute though, don't get me wrong." You laugh again, and he gently pushes you, making sure not to hurt you. "Well how do you think I feel when you and kiba are always making out around me? Your my best friend to, and you don't see me laughing!" you both giggle, and then Shikamaru looks down at the floor. "Is something wrong?" you ask.  
"Speaking of 'stuff', where did you and kiba get to? I didn't see you for the rest of the night."  
You look down and pull gently at the sheets. "No where..." you say.  
"Bull. Where- or what did you to do?" he says, sounding a bit more serious. You decide that you will tell him-after all, he is your best friend and you share everything with him.  
"He took me to a Waterfall," you begin to say. "And I had a great time. After a while, we got really close and..."  
"And what?" he asks, looking at you harshly.  
"I'm not going to lie to you Shikamaru. We did... do it... and he didn't pressure or talk me into it at all. It was my decision, and it was the right one. I don't regret anything."  
He looks at you, with a frown on his face. "But Z... your only 15..."  
You know that it's hard for him to hear it, because you are like his little sister. "But Shikamaru...I'm not a little girl anymore. I appreciate that you look out for me, but I'm getting older and need to make my own decisions."  
He looks at you and forces a smile. "I know. But if he ever hurts you-"you cut off his sentence by finishing it off with yours. "You will hurt him yeah yeah... I know how it goes." You both laugh as he gives you a friendly hug. "Ata' girl Z" he says before you say your goodbyes.

Chapter 9- Your Release

As you wake up, you stare at the stream of sunlight coming through the hospital window. You glance over at the vase of new flowers on your bedside table. They look like they were picked this morning, because it's a different bunch to yesterday_. Kiba must have dropped them off before training. _ You smile and breathe in the fresh scent. Your nurse suddenly enters the room, and smiles at you. "Good morning Zarae!" she says politely. "I guess you've noticed the fresh flowers beside your bed. The Inuzuka boy dropped them off this morning. He couldn't stay though, because he was going on a mission and couldn't be late." You smile and stare at the flowers. _You were right. _All of a sudden you jump upright. "What's the date today?" you ask the nurse.  
"It's the 25th, why?" she replies, starring at your sudden burst of energy. Today was the day you finally get released! You jump out of bed, forgetting about your still frail injury. _Oh crap, I forgot about that... _you say to yourself, clenching it firmly. "I get to go today, don't I?" you confirm to the nurse. She turns to you and smiles. "Yes you do, we packed your gear up last night, so all you have to do is get dressed and you're alright to leave." The nurse say's goodbye and you thank her as she leaves the room. You put on your gear, brush your hair and teeth, grab your bag and head down to the training field.  
As you arrive, Kakashi is staring at you with a strange look. "What are you doing here?" he asks confusingly. You drop your bag of stuff, and face him. "I finally got released today, so I'm here to catch up on my training." You say. You were excited to start working out again, as you felt lazy doing nothing but lye in a hospital bed. "I don't think so missy. You need to let your wound heal fully before you start training again." He says, folding his arms. You groan and try to make him reconsider. But, he doesn't budge. Instead, he makes you go home to relax and catch up on theory work. _Great. Homework, just what I need. _You roll your eyes and wave goodbye to Naruto. As you near your house, you stand out the front and look at it for a while. Your heart started to pound. _What if he is in there? _ You shake your head, and tell yourself to stop being silly. You take a small stride onto the first step of your house. _You can't do this._ You drop your gear and run over to Ino's.  
As you arrive, she lets you in and you tell her about your little moment in front of the house. She understands you and tells you that she would probably do the same thing. She then starts to talk to you about her plans for tomorrow night.  
"Did you want to stay over?" she asks, eyes gleaming bright. "I've pretty much invited everyone, but I didn't know when you were going to be released from hospital. But now that you are, you can come, right?"  
You think of plans that you might have made instead. But you can't think of anything, so you gladly agree. "Sure, I think that would be great."  
"Kiba's coming to..." she grins. You look at her cheekily.  
"Good!" you say as you both started to laugh.  
Two hours later you finally work up the guts to walk home. As you stood outside the front of your house, you here a voice appear from behind you. "Hears' my baby girl." Kiba says, as he walks up and cuddles you gently. "I finally get to go home!" you say to him excitedly. Your expression changes as you remember what happened two weeks ago. You figure that kiba knew what you were thinking, as he takes hold of your hand and looks at you. "Did you want me to come in with you?" he asks compassionately. You look him in the eyes, and say "yeah... I'd like that."  
That afternoon you went back to your usual bonding time. But instead of pretending to wrestle, he gives you a neck massage and quietly cuddles you as you watch TV. "How do you feel babe?" he asks you, as you take your eyes off the commercials on the television. "It aches every now and then, but I'll get over it. It's not the worst thing in the world." You watch as he slowly runs his hands over your stomach and lightly across the wound. "You're brave..." he whispers in your ear, as he tenderly kisses your neck. After 2 minutes of making out, you talk about tomorrow night's plans at Ino's and slowly set off to bed.

Chapter 10- Ino's Party

You wake up and stretch out your arms. You breathe in the fresh morning air, and remember that Ino's party is on tonight. You're excited, because you like having everyone around and just hanging out. You realise that kiba isn't beside you, and you presume he went off to training. _You'll see him tonight_ You think as you start to hop out of bed. But then you start to feel a little scared. You don't feel comfortable being in the house alone anymore, because of what happened 2 weeks ago. You don't usually get like this, because you have seen some pretty horrific things back in west city when you were helping your parents. But for some reason, this time it was different.  
You take a deep breath and slowly walk down the stairs_. Get a hold of yourself. No one is in here. It's all in your head. _You do the usual- have breakfast, brush your teeth, get dressed and quickly brush your hair. But instead of heading down to the training field, you catch up on your homework. Your wound hurt a bit today. Every time you stood up, stretched or sat down, you could feel it pull and tear a bit. You take the medication the nurse prescribed for you, and you guess it stopped the pain a tad.  
Before you knew it, 6 o clock came around and kiba was knocking at your door to pick you up. He kisses you hello, and comments on how you look. "You look good too" you smile, admiring his amazing body and gorgeous face. _He is so dam sexy! And he is all yours!_  
He walks you to Ino's where everyone has already arrived. You greet everyone and you all start talking and laughing. Before you know it its seven thirty and everyone is hanging out in the living room. The boy's were talking among themselves, and then Ino pulls you aside.  
"Are you having fun?" she asks.  
"Yeah! It's been great. You did a good job Ino." You reply, smiling.  
She tells you about her night with Shikamaru, and you also tell her about you and kiba. She was kind of shocked at first, but then supported your decision. "So are you and Shikamaru officially going out?" you ask her.  
"I don't really know... we get along really well... but we are not like you and kiba..."  
You stare at her with confusion. "What do you mean?" you ask her.  
"well, kiba treats you like.... your his everything... the stuff he say's to you, the way he looks at you, the way he kisses you... I want me and Shikamaru to be like that. But we aren't. It's confusing..." she says. You look at her, and then think about you and kiba_. I guess you and him are special when you think about it..._  
You rest your hand on her shoulder. "It's what you make of it, Ino. You can't stand around and wait for special to happen. Me and kiba choose to be like we are, because we share a connection not many people have. Love happens naturally, but 'special' doesn't."  
She looks at you, nods, and smiles softly. "Your right." she replies. "Hey Z, can I ask you a question?"  
"Ah, Sure" you reply.  
"Has kiba... um... Has kiba... Bitten you yet? I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just curious..." she says, looking down at the floor and fidgeting with her fingers.  
You get really confused. _Bitten? What is she saying?_ "What do you mean by bitten?" you ask her in confusion. She looks at you, as if she thought you knew what she was talking about.  
"You mean, you don't know?" she says. You shake your head.  
"Well... It's something the Inuzuka clan does when they fall in love. I don't know much about it, but I know that the male bites their partner and they become paired for life, or something like that..."  
You try to think of kiba mentioning it to you. But, you can't think of a time where he has talked about it at all.  
You finish talking with Ino, and her dad enters the room. Everyone says hello, but his expression takes away everyone's cheery mood.  
"Uh dad? What's with the serious look? We're sorry if we are making too much noise." Says Ino, as she walks over and sits next to Shikamaru. He stares at the crowed of people. "No, it's not you kids. I was watching the news and it has just said that Doshu Mizokii has escaped from the village hidden in the mist, and has stolen the sacred mist of black curse. You are not to leave the house or let anyone in, ok?" You get a strike of fear run up your body. _That is the name of the man. The man that tried to kill you. It was all coming back to you now.  
_Every one see's your expression and stares your way. Naruto finally breaks the silence. "What the hell is the sacred mist of black curse?" he asks, frowning. Ino's dad glares at him, and begins to tell everyone about the mist.  
"The sacred mist of black curse is an antidote, and if it reaches any source of oxygen, turns into a mist which infects the body and leaves a black curse mark on you. You then become a tool for the person that handles the mist, and you become a slave and succumb to every order he says without hesitation or fear."  
Everyone stares at each other, wondering what to do. "So can everyone stay here the night?" Ino asks her dad. He nods, and once again tells everyone to stay in the house before he walks up to bed. Kiba walks over to you and sits by your side, holding your hand. "That's him, isn't it Z...." he asks, looking at you with concern. "Yeah. It is. And he is coming back to finish what he started..." you try holding back the tears, but kiba hugs you and lets your head rest on his shoulders.  
"It's ok to cry Zarae..." he says quietly. "Did you want to go into the next room and talk?"  
You nod your head. "Yeah, there's something i need to ask you." You walk into the next room and sit on the bed. "Is there something wrong?" he asks.  
"Well... not really, there was something I wanted to ask you about..." you begin to say. He looks at you and smiles. "Well ask away."  
"Why have you never told me about how the Inuzuka clan bites-or marks- their partners?"

His smile fades and he adjusts his look down to the floor. "Who told you about that?" He says, with a bit of irritation in his voice. "Ino mentioned it to me-" he cuts you off before you can finish the sentence. "Well she should have kept her mouth shut." You look at him, surprised at his turn of attitude. "Whoa, did I do something wrong?" you ask him, frowning. He turns to look at you. "No, but i wish she didn't mention it to you, it's none of her business."  
"But it's mine, isn't it? I thought you would have said something about it to me, but you haven't... so I thought I would bring it up. Why have you never talked about it with me?" you ask. You could tell he was starting to get mad, as he was clenching his teeth. "Because I wasn't planning on doing it to you."  
You start to feel sad_. Doesn't he love you? _ "But kiba... Ino said that when you fall in love you mark them- is it because you don't love me?" you ask, as your eyes start to fill with tears. "It's not that at all. I love you more than anything in the world Zarae, you know that. It's because of that love that I'm not going to mark you." He says. You start to feel angry.  
"Why not?" you say, starting to raise your voice. "It doesn't make sense." He looks at you and starts to raise his voice back. "Zarae you don't know anything about it!" he yells. You sit there in shock. _You've never seen him like this before_...  
Tears run down your face. You don't weep though; you just stare at the floor boards below you. "Listen to us..." kiba starts to say, as his voice starts to soften. "We never fight."  
You look into his eyes again. "Then tell me why you won't." You whisper.  
There was a moment of silence. "If I were to bite someone, I have to control all my chakra to my fangs. Not just some of it, I'm talking all of it. When I bite you, it would put you through the most pain you will have ever experienced in your life. It would be excruciating, and the bite would almost kill you. And I can't do anything but watch..." he says. "And that's not all. We would be paired for life, but if I was to die in a mission or an accident, you would die too. Or if you were to stop loving me, and fall in love with someone else, you would die. And you would never be able to love again. There is no way I'm going to put you through that."  
You stare into his eyes, and hold his hands. "I would never stop loving you. I will never fall in love with someone else. And if you were to die, I would rather die with you than to live a life without you." He pulls you closely, and holds you against him as you start to kiss. "I don't want to see you go through pain again z... please doesn't make me do it to you..."  
You don't answer him. Instead, you lie back onto the bed and pull him on top of you. You don't have sex, but just kiss passionately for about five minutes before you are interrupted by Ino at the door. You both leave the room, holding hands and never letting go for the rest of the night.

Chapter 11- Mist of Black Curse

The next morning, everyone wakes up and has breakfast at Ino's. Her mum makes an awesome breakfast- bacon and eggs with pancakes. Everyone's scoffs it down, and slowly, everyone's parents arrive to pick them up. Everyone's except yours, Saskue and Naruto's.  
"I think we can walk home as a group, that way if we are attacked we can back each other up." Says Saskue. You turn and face him, wondering why he would come up with that idea. From what you've gathered from him so far, he wasn't very social, and preferred to be alone. "I guess that's safe. But be careful." Says Ino's father, as he waves you goodbye. You walk and drop Naruto off, and you and Saskue were left to walk home alone. "So..." he begins to say. You turn to face him, feeling awkward. "Are you and kiba officially dating?" he asks you. You turn away, staring at the houses you walk past. "We are. Why do you ask?" you reply.  
"Well I guess I've missed my chance..." he says. This is the most awkwardness you have ever felt in your life. "Uh, yeah. Sorry about that..." you reply. _What the hell are you meant to say?_ The next thing you know, someone comes up and hits you in your face, cutting the skin just above your eyebrow. It's Sakura, and she doesn't look happy. "I told you to stay the fuck away from him!" she yells, as you pick yourself up off the ground. "What the hell! Have you officially lost it? I haven't done anything!" She runs toward you again, ready to throw another punch. You dodge it easily, and punch her in her face, effortlessly knocking her to the ground. "Hah, pathetic." You say as you walk back to your house, telling Saskue to go home and that you will be fine to walk the rest of the way alone.

_What a fucked up afternoon..._ you think to yourself as you wipe away the blood from your eyebrow. You feel so mad; you decide to go for a run to release the stress. As you run through the forest at the end of the road, you discover something up ahead. Your heart stops. It was Doshu Mizokii, and he had one of the leaf ninja Jonin with him. You quickly hid behind a tree, trying not to be seen. _What the hell were you thinking to go out here alone!_ You peer around the edge of the tree, and saw that he has a glass bottle with a dark purple liquid in it. _That must be the mist_.... he then glances your way. You quickly secrete behind the tree again_. Shit, did he see you?  
_ "That wouldn't be that little saiyan brat hiding over there, would it?" Doshu said, with a disturbing tone in his voice. Your body freezes. You don't know what to do. _Should you run? Should you stay put and hope that he doesn't approach you? Or should you fight him and try retrieve the mist?_ You grip your wound underneath your ribcage. It's starting to ache from all the running you've been doing. _There is no way you can fight in your condition. _ You decide to run, and warn everyone back at the leaf village. But as you turn to see if he was looking, the Jonin he had captured was standing right behind you. Before you can move, he grabs your arm and seizes you in place. Doshu walks over and stares at you, grinning to himself. "I could kill you..." he begins to say. You try to break free, but the Jonin's strength is to strong. The curse mark that covers half of his body has made his strength increase by tenfold, and you have no chance of escaping. "Or I could use you to help take down the leaf village." he opens the top of the vile, and holds it to your face. You try holding your breath, but as you start to suffocate, you have no choice but to breathe in the mist.  
You feel a burning feeling tear up the right side of your body. You yell in pain, before collapsing to the ground. "Now as your first order...." Doshu begins to say. "Attack any ninja in the leaf village and kill them."  
"Yes sir." You say, without hesitation.

Chapter 12- Attack

You walk through the empty streets of the leaf village. _Where the hell is everyone_? You see a little boy, and glare at him. He screams and runs inside a building, and you decide to not waste your time. Before you know it, you see a bunch of people standing ahead. They have all been inflicted with the mist as well, and you smile to yourself. One of them is Ino, and another two of them are Choji and Neji. You also notice a girl you have seen before called ten ten.  
Together, you and the army of people tare through the city, destroying buildings and wounding people as you went.  
You here a voice call out behind you. You glance around and see Kiba standing there, looking at you in an angry confusion. "Why are you doing this Zarae..." he says, holding back tears. You walk over to him and stare in his eyes. You lift your fist and punch him in the gut. He falls to the ground, and gets back up. "Stop it Zarae. This isn't you!" he yells, trying to get a message across to you. You laugh, and punch him in the face, once again sending him across the ground. Shikamaru and Naruto run up behind him, with a needle in their hands. "Kiba! You have to fight her until she's unconscious!" yells Shikamaru, holding his distance. "I... I can't... I won't hurt her..." say's kiba, lifting himself off the ground. He walks over to you and grabs your hand. "Wake up Zarae. It's me!" he says, looking into your eyes. You push him away, and stare at him. _What does this guy think he's doing? Why isn't he fighting back?  
_"You need to knock her unconscious kiba! That way we can give her the antidote and she will return to her normal self!" yells Naruto. Kiba shakes his head, and swipes away his tears with the back of his hands. "I promise I would never hurt her. And I am sticking to my word." He says, as he starts walking over to you. You feel an incredibly sharp pain tear at your right side of your body. It feels as though someone is ripping at it with a knife. You glance at the marking on your arm. It's starting to retract. A voice appears from behind you.  
"What are you doing you worthless saiyan! Attack him!" shouts Doshu. The curse mark reappears, and you go to hit kiba again. He grabs your hand, and stares into your eyes. A tear rolls down his cheek. "Stop doing this Zarae. I know that this isn't you. It's this stupid curse, Ignore it Z... Wake up!"  
A tear falls from your eye. "Kiba! Hit her! We need to give her the antidote!" shouts Shikamaru. He shakes his head. "I'm not going to hurt her!"  
You feel a sharp pain in the side of your neck, and you see Naruto sticking a needle in your skin. Your eyes start to close. "I'm sorry..." you whisper as you collapse to the ground.  
"No!!" you yell as you sit up in bed, tears pouring down your face. You are sweating, and your heart is racing like a train. "Z! What's wrong? Are you ok?" asks kiba, sitting up in the bed beside you. He uses the back of his fist to wipe his eyes. It's 3 in the morning, and he is trying to sleep. You glance around at the room you're in. _You're still at Ino's place? What is going on?_  
"Z..." says kiba, resting his hand on your arm. "You had a bad dream. It's ok, go back to sleep."  
You're panting, and sweating faintly. You start to cry. "Kiba... I had the most awful dream. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear I won't do it again...." you sob, hugging him tight.  
"Hey, hey.... it's ok. It was just a bad dream. I'm here now; I won't let anything happen to you. Now let's go back to bed, you will be ok..." he says, rubbing you on the back. You can't do anything but continue saying sorry. "Zarae, there's nothing to be sorry about. I don't know what you dreamed of, but none of it was real. Now it's late, you need to get your rest. If your upset about what happened tonight, we can talk about it first thing in the morning, I promise."

You start to relax when you hear his voice. _Thank god it was all a dream._ You lye back onto the bed and face each other, sliding your arms around him and holding him tight. You take a deep breath, and start to fall asleep.

Chapter 13- Worthless

It's been 3 weeks since Ino's party, and almost every night since then you keep having that same dream. Every night you wake up screaming, sweating, crying and shaking.  
Today was the day when you and the rest of the Genin are getting a talk to off some of the Jonin ninja's. You are excited, because you love the life of the ninja and even though you are a saiyan, this is the path you want to take. You get out of bed and walk to your bedroom window, gazing at the quiet street below and taking in the fresh morning air. As the sun caresses your skin, you glance over at the picture of you and kiba on the bedside table. You smile, and think of how lucky you are. _You love him so much._  
You walk through the crowded streets of Konoha, hand in hand with the guy you adore. He surprised you by picking you up this morning, and you decided that you will walk to the academy together.  
You reach the academy and are shown to a class room with the rest of the Genin. There, you are greeted by the best of the Jonin. They give you an amazing talk on the requirements of becoming a ninja and talk about their past missions and experiences.  
"So are there any questions?" say's one of the Jonin.  
You decide to put your hand up and ask if it was a hard journey to get where they were now. But before they can answer, the lady hokage steps in. "And you think that you're going to become a Jonin?" she asks, spitefully. You get irritated.  
"Of course I do." You say shortly. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here."  
She glares at you. "What makes a saiyan think she can become a ninja? You obviously don't have what it takes Zarae. You're only here because your parents needed you to be out of there way for the time being. You're not serious about this."

You feel anger begin to rise inside you. You clench your fists and before you can stop yourself, you begin to yell. "Don't you dare underestimate me! I will prove to you that I can be a ninja, just you wait. So I would shut my mouth if I were-"  
"Zarae! Be quiet. Don't talk back to the hokage like that." Says Kakashi, grabbing your arm. "Meet me outside, now."

You feel so angry. One thing that you absolutely hate is when people underestimate you, or bag out your culture or family. You give one last stare at the hokage, and stand to leave the room. As you are leaving, kiba stands up and starts to follow. "And where do you think you're going kiba?" asks lady hokage. He stops and turns to face her. "I'm surprised she still wants to become a ninja and fight to protect you and this village after the way you treat her. She is just as equal as anyone of us. But you won't realise that until the day you find this village in trouble and wish she was here to help."  
You glance down and smile to yourself. _He_ _is amazing_. Once you are outside the class room, you grab his hand and whisper to him "Thank you." He smiles and answer's with;  
"If you hurt, then l hurt. If you cry, then l cry. If you're mad, then I'm mad too, and whatever it may be we go through, we go through it together."

Kakashi folds his arms and stares down at you. "Zarae, you cannot speak to the hokage like that."  
Your anger starts to come back again. "But didn't you see the way she treated me? She spoke to me like I was some worthless piece of dirt! Why is it that I'm getting in trouble and not her!" you yell, holding back your tears. Kakashi places his hand on your shoulder and looks you in the eyes. "I did see that Zarae, and it's not fair. But that's all the more reason to prove to her you're not some piece of dirt. I know you are strong Zarae, probably one of the strongest Genin I have ever taught. And I know you can prove her wrong."  
You nod. "You're exactly right. I'll show her I'm not worthless." you say, bearing a smile.  
"That's my girl" says kiba, as he hugs you. You tell Kakashi that you are going home, and kiba is going with you. When you reach your house, you invite kiba in and you talk about what happened today.  
"You did the right thing by sticking up for yourself Z." Says Kiba. You smile, and huddle into him close. "Yeah, I did. And I'm happy that I did say something. Thank you for standing by me..." You reply.  
"You're an amazing girl. I don't know what I would do without you."  
Every thing always seems better when you're around kiba. He makes you smile, he makes you laugh, and most of all, he makes you happy.  
He moves on top of you, and feel him take of his pants. You take off yours to, and feel him slide inside you. That was always the most painful part. "Are you ok?" he asks attentively.  
"Yeah, it's ok now..." You reply, kissing him slowly. He kisses you gently, holding you softly against him. You feel his abs press against your body, and you run your hand across his back, taking in the masculinity of his shoulders. He lifts you so you're sitting upright, straddling him. He looks into your eyes, slowly and steadily pushing inside you. You hold each other close; maintaining eye contact and kissing tenderly. "Kiba..." you begin to say.  
"What is it babe?" he whispers.  
"I want you to mark me." You say, remembering the conversation at Ino's. "I love you and I want to be with you forever. Nothing will change that, I want to be with you and you only."  
He leans in and kisses you. "Not tonight Z..." he replies. You figure to drop the subject; you don't want to be pushy.  
"I will always love you." He says, gazing into your eyes. You rest your hand on either side of his cheeks, and pull him into you. "Always and forever." You reply, before you both kiss and fall asleep, cradling each other the whole night.  
_"What are you doing you worthless saiyan! Attack him!" The curse mark reappears, and you hit kiba again. "Stop doing this Zarae. I know that this isn't you. It's this stupid curse! Ignore it Z... Wake up!"_

"Kiba!" you shout as you sit up, sweating, crying and shaking. He jumps up to the sound of your voice, and looks around the room violently. "Huh, wh-whats going on? Z, are you ok? What happened?" he asks, his voice filled with confusion. Tears stream down your face as you bury your face in your hands. "Kiba.... I had that dream again. I'm so sorry, I didn't want to hurt you but he made me..... Don't hate me please...." you sob. He wraps his arm around your waste and brings your head against his chest. "Z.... you had that dream again didn't you.... it's ok. It wasn't real so calm down; I'm here for you know."  
He runs his hands through your, hair, but you couldn't calm down. Why do you keep having this dream? What does it mean?  
You get out of bed and walk to the window. You open it, and let the cool night breeze blow against your face. "Why do I keep having this dream kiba.... What is it Trying to tell me..."  
you place your arms on the window ceil, resting your weight on them. Kiba sits upright in the bed behind you, his arm resting on his elevated knee. "I'm not sure Z. But I think you need to talk about it with someone. I hate seeing you wake up like this, all in a panic and upset. Did you want to tell me what happened?" he asks, glancing over at the window where you're standing. "Remember how Ino's dad told us about Doshu and the sacred mist of black curse? Well... I keep dreaming that I'm infected with it, and you're trying to help me. But I just keep hurting you, pushing you away. I know deep inside I don't want to, but I do anyway. And it makes me feel so bad."  
There was a moment of silence. You then feel a pair of arms come up from behind and wrap around your waste. Kiba kisses you on your neck, and whispers in your ear, "If it's not real, it doesn't matter." You turn to face him and kiss him slowly. "I love you" you say.  
He replies, "always and forever."

Chapter 14- Clara Inuzuka

You're woken up by a loud knock at the door. You walk down and answer it, to find Kureni sensei. "Oh, hey Kureni Sensei, what are you doing here?" you ask her.  
"Hello Zarae, im looking for kiba. I presume he's here, seeing that he isn't at his place." She replies. "Uh yeah, he is here, he's upstairs if you want me to go get him. Is everything alright?" you say, a little concerned. "Actually, his mother is worried about him, and has no idea where he is. When she asked me to look for him, i new i would find him here. He needs to go home, because his family have some news for him".  
you say goodbye to Kureni sensei, and walk upstairs to wake up Kiba. "Morning beautiful." He says as he pulls you down onto the bed. You laugh, and wrestle him. Your sitting on top of him, his arms pinned to the bed. "Haha, i win!" you laugh. He grabs your fists and rolls over, reversing and putting you in his position. "Well well well, i guess i win!" he laughs, and he kisses you playfully. You were having a little bit to much fun when you noticed you hadn't told him about Kureni sensei. 'Oh shit!" you yell when you remembered. "Kureni sensei visited, and she said your mum was looking for you."  
His smile faded. "Shit... Z i have to go, ill come back and see you tonight." He said, as he quickly grabbed his stuff and walked down the stairs. "Um, ok, Bye" you say as he disappears. What was all that about? One minute he is all lovey and the next he's out the door? Weird....  
at about 9 am, Shikamaru knocks on your door. "Oh hey Shikamaru!" you say as you invite him in. You sit down at the kitchen table, and he tells you about the news. "We have a new girl coming today." He says. "Its a drag really, just another person we may have to fight."  
"A new girl? The chunin exams are a week away, how is she going to compete with a week worth of training?" you say, wondering about the outcome. You and Shikamaru decide to walk to the academy, where you are meant to greet her along with the rest of the Genin. When you get there, you see a bunch of people crouded around a blonde girl, with brown pants and a red T shirt. You walk over to her. You notice that she has the red Inuzuka markings on her cheek. She's an Inuzuka? Where did she come from? Was she related to kiba? A million questions went through your head. You try to put all your questions behind you as you greet her. "Hey, im Zarae." You say kindly, holding out your hand. She looks at you and laughs. "Hah, i know who you are. Your that pathetic saiyan brat, And im not interested in being your friend."  
whoa. Step back. This girl was worse than sakura. She hated you already, and you had only known her for a minute. You can feel the anger building up inside you. " Well from what i've gathered from you so far, you're a psycho. And your the only pathetic thing i see around here, so id keep your mouth shut. Later." You say as you turn away and walk towards the training field.

After you finished training, you decide to go and pick up kiba from his training ground. As you reared the corner, you see him talking with his mom.  
"But i don't like her! " Kiba yells angrily.  
"Shut up, Kiba! Of course you like her. She is the main Ayer of the Inuzuka clan. You will be with her, not that saiyan brat from the city!" she yells as he clenches his fists.  
"No! I'm not leaving Z! Clara can find someone else!"  
Your heart starts pounding. Kibas mum wants him to leave you for that new girl. You don't know whether to just go home or wait for Kiba, but if his mom see's you, who knows what will happen. You decide to just walk home, kiba said this morning he would come visit you tonight anyway.  
as you reach your house, you think of what kibas mom said_. You will be with her, not that saiyan brat. _  
You wait for hours, expecting kiba to show up any minute to fill you in on what's happening. After hours of waiting, you here a knock on the door. You rush down to answer it, only to see kiba's mom standing there.  
"Stay away from my son." She say's angrily, and as though she was about to hit you.  
"Why." You say, holding your ground. "We love each other and no one can stop that. I have did nothing wrong for you to treat me like im a piece of dirt."  
She stares down at you, scowling. "This is your last warning, you little brat. Stay away from him! He is going to be with clara, whether you like it or not. They will marry, and if you try to come between them, there will be consequences."  
Before you can say anything more, you slam the door shut and break down in tears. You tell yourself he won't leave you. After all, he promised he would love you forever.  
The next morning, you get up and go to training. As you walk through the busy streets of Konoha, you see Sakura and Clara. Great, you think to yourself. Just what i need.  
"Oh, look who it is. The slime ball saiyan." Say's clara.  
"How are things down at the lower side of Konoha?" adds Sakura.  
You stare at them. "It was a lot better until i saw your massive forehead and your queer looking friend" you reply. You could see her becoming angry, so she turned the other way and left, pulling clara along with her.  
As you begin to train, you let all your anger out in every punch. You let all your stress out in every kick and all your worries out in every hit. At the end of your session, you just sit against the training post.  
"Is everything alright Zarae?" asks Kakashi. You wipe the sweat off your forehead and look up at him.  
"Yeah, everythings ok. Just need to take a little time out before i go back home." You reply. Kakashi leaves and you are left at the training field alone. You watch the sun go down, and before you know it, its dark. You grab your jacket and put it on, as you start to feel the cool night air against your skin. You just lay back and look at the beautiful night sky, thinking about all the drama's that have happened in the past few days. It's starting to get late, so you decide to head back home and get good nights sleep. As you walk through the empty streets of Konoha, you reach your house and find Kiba sitting on your front steps.  
"Kiba? What are you doing here? Its late, are you ok?" you say. His eyes are blood shot, as if he had been crying. His face was pale, and his hands were slightly shaking.  
"Zarae... I need to talk to you." He says coldly. You stare at him, wondering what was so important that he needed to tell you. "What is it?" you ask, putting your hands in the pocket of your jacket. He looks down, and squeezes his eyes shut.  
" I can't be with you anymore. I think its best if we don't see each other, and take a break for a while."  
your heart stops. Your hands start to tremble and your eyes begin to fill with tears. "Tell me your only joking..." you begin to say. "We're not really breaking up, are we?"  
he glances down at the ground. "Im sorry Z, but i can't be with you right now. The chunin exams are getting closer and i need al the training i can get. It hurts me just as much to say this as it hurts you..."  
"Shut up kiba!" you yell, tears streaming down your face like a waterfall. "What happened to 'always and forever?' we have been through so much together, and you want to end it just so you can become stronger!? I thought we loved each other... how could you do this...."  
you break down, and go week at the knees. You bury your face into the palms of your hands, as everything you have been through with him runs through your head. The day you first met, The mornings where you would laugh and play, the nights where you could look into each other's eyes for hours wiht out saying a word, the time he wouldn't leave your hospital bed until you fell asleep, the moments where he would stick up for you, no matter what the consequences, the kisses you never wanted to end, and most of all, the magical night at the waterfall.  
"Z... you don't understand...." he begins to say.  
"No, i don't understand kiba..... i would do anything for you, i loved you with every bone in my body. I thought what we had would last forever...." you sob. You find it hard to breathe, and everything seems to be going blurry. _This is all a bad dream. Wake up z, wake up..._ you tell yourself. You force your nails into the palm of your hand, hoping it will awake you from this horrible nightmare. But nothing happens.  
"I do love you Z..." kiba says, as he reaches out to you. You step back, and stare him in the eyes.  
"Don't touch me." You say coldly. "You don't love me. You never did. Your a liar, a user. That night at the waterfall... it was all fake. It meant nothing to you..." you say, tears still pouring down your face.  
"Don't say that! Everything i ever said to you, every touch, every kiss i meant with all my heart. That night at the waterfall, all of it was real. Not one thing in this relationship was fake and never was their one moment i regretted. I swear, i loved you with everything in my heart .I'm sorry it has to end like this..... " he says, his voice trembling.  
"Then why are you doing this!...." you cry, slowly sliding to the ground. He lowers his head and digs hid nails against the inside of his hands.  
"Because i have to." He says as he turns around slowly, and disappears into the dark and lifeless streets of Konoha. As your hearts breaks in two, you sit on the cold ground crying and don't notice the tears that stream down his cheeks aswell.

Chapter 15- Loved No more

You wake up in what seems to be the coldest bed you have ever slept in. You can still smell him in your sheets, but his warmth is no longer there. You drag yourself up and stand on the creaking floor boards beside your bed, waiting for his hand to pull you back down so he can kiss you.  
"Why..." you whisper as you collapse back down onto the bed and tightly cradle the pillow beside you. Tears run down your face as you glance at the picture on the bedside table. You squeeze your eyes shut and punch it, shattering the glass which protected the photo. The frame falls and breaks, smashing onto the ground. _Just like your heart.  
_You didn't go to training today, and told Kakashi you were sick. For the whole day, you lay on the lounge, starring at the spot where he usually sits. Your mind flashes back to the times where you would wrestle, laughing and smiling like there was no tomorrow. He would hold you so close to him, kissing you slowly, lovingly. You would fall asleep in each other's arms, and wake up in them the next morning. You were always together, but now, it felt like you were so far apart.  
There is a knock at the door, but you are to upset to answer it. "Z, its Shikamaru. Can i come in?"  
You ignore it once again, as if you were dead to the world. "Z, I'm coming in." he says, as he pushes the door open slowly. He see's you crying on the lounge, and walks over to sit beside you. "What's wrong? Kakashi told me to check up on you because you told him you were sick. "He says, folding his arms. You look up at him, tears falling from your glassy eyes. "Me and Kiba broke up" you say. He looks at you, as if he doesn't believe you. Then he looks at the state you're in and realises you weren't lying. "What? How come? Did he hurt you? i told you he was a jerk!" he says, starting to raise his voice.  
"He came around last night. I was late returning from training, and when i got home he was here. He told me that he couldn't be with me anymore, and that he needs to focus on his training. We had a massive fight and then he went home..." you cry. Shikamaru looks sadly at you, and puts his arm around your shoulders. He hugs you, and says "It's ok Z. You will work things out in time. I'm not good in these situations so i am kind of lost for what to say..."  
You lift your face from his shoulder, and force a quiet laugh. "It's ok Shikamaru. I know you care and as long as i have your shoulder to cry on, I'm happy."  
You did feel a bit better when he was around, but you lied when you said you were happy. You weren't happy at all. You were miserable and broken inside. He was the first thing you thought about when you wake up, and the last thing to think about when you go to sleep. You felt like you were nothing without him, just a worthless saiyan brat.

The next day, Ino comes around to pick you up. She asks about you and kiba, although you would have rather not talked about it at all.  
Today you had a meeting with all the chunin exam instructors. As you and Ino arrived at the academy, you walked over to sit with Shikamaru and Naruto. You look around, searching the crowd of Genin to hopefully see kiba. But when you see him sitting on the opposite side of the classroom with Clara sitting on his lap, your eyes immediately fill with tears. "I... I need to go..." you say as you run out of the classroom. "Zarae! Wait!" yells Ino, running after you. You run into the girls bathroom and collapse against the wall. You hide your face in your hands, catching every tear to fall from your eyes. "Z...don't cry..." says Ino, trying to comfort you. She rubs your back, and asks you what just happened. "I saw kiba..." you manage to say. "He is with that clara girl. He must have got over me pretty quick, huh..." you say.  
"You don't know that for sure Z. Maybe there just talking..." her voice trails off and she looks away.  
"Is there something you're not telling me Ino?" you say, as you notice her trying to hide something.  
"Z, i don't want to make you more upset" she begins to say.  
"Wh-What are you talking about? You have to tell me Ino." You reply.  
"Well... Word around is that Clara and kiba were arranged to be together since they were born. When Clara was 4, she was sent off to a higher academy, because her father was the leader of the Inuzuka clan. There she got better training and when she was to return, her and kiba are meant to get married in 5 years. That's why i think he broke up with you, Z... he does love you, but there are family things that are happening right now. I think you need to move on, because i really can't see kibas mum letting you be with him. I'm sorry, Z....."  
Your heart breaks. But why did he even ask you out if he knew about her? Were you just something he used to fill in the gap until she returned?  
It was at that point you realised what your dream had meant. As Doshu was telling you to hurt kiba, you had to. You didn't want to, but you did. Its the same for Kiba. His mum was telling him to hurt you by breaking up with you, and even though he didn't want to, he did. It was all so clear now.  
You look up at Ino. "I will always love him, you know..... i know we will never be together again, but i will always love him."  
She hugs you, and you both walk back into the classroom. You decide to get a grip, and try to put it behind you. Its going to be hard, but you can do it. Because after all, you're not some weak worthless saiyan. Your Zarae, and your strong.

"Attention Students" Ancho bellows out from in front of the classroom. "We have all gathered here today so we can inform you of the changes we have made to the chunin exams."  
You can here everyone whisper in confusion, as Ancho continues to speak.  
"Instead of the written exam and the task of making it to the forest of death, students from all over the country will meet hear, and you will be put into teams of four. On these teams there will be a mixture of genin from the village of fire, village of crystal, weaponry caves, the earth village, the village of fire and the village hidden in the forest. Then you will compete in a 2 day mission to make it to a battle ground we have set up in the terrain of the leaf village. There, you will compete in a fighting tournament until five Genin remain. Those 5 Genin will compete in another challenge which is yet to be confirmed. The winner of that will be granted a definite position as a chunin."  
Every one starts to talk and cheer among themselves, obviously happy with the new exam. You feel excited to, because it's the first ever attempt at the new exam, and you're part of it.  
"WOO! I am going to nail this exam! Believe it!" Yells Naruto. You smile.  
"Sounds interesting." You say to Shikamaru. He folds his arms and leans back on the table behind him. "It's a drag if you ask me. There's more practical stuff, which means more effort...." he sighs. You jokingly punch him in the arm. "I think your problem is that you're too lazy!"You say as you laugh. It feels good to laugh, because the past day and night have been awful, and you have felt like you would never smile again. But today is the day you will try to put it behind you and focus your mind on the chunin exam ahead.

Chapter 16 – Practice makes perfect

The next day, you trained like there was no tomorrow. You went all out, putting all your effort into every punch, all your might into every kick.  
"Well done today Zarae," says Kakashi. "You trained really well."  
"Thanks Kakashi senei" you reply. Naruto runs over to you smiling.  
"Wow Zarae! You kicked but today! I think you're gonna wipe the floor at the chunin exams!" he yells, grinning widely. "But i don't think you will beat me!"  
You giggle and wipe your face with a towel. "I'm just looking forward to beating Saskue and then finally earning respect from lady hokage. But im also looking forward to versing you as well, Naruto!" you say. You both smile and laugh, looking forward to challenges ahead.  
you and Naruto walk together to the ramen shop, where you drop him off and say goodbye. As you turn away, you see clara and Kiba standing on the other side of the street. They are at a food shop, with clara sitting on his lap. Kiba glances your direction, and see's you. For about 5 seconds, you just stare into each other's eyes. You could see almost every emotion he was feeling, and he could see yours. Although clara looks cheerful, cuddling and attempting to kiss him, he looked unhappy. You could see he didn't want to be there, and he wasn't smiling and laughing like you and him used to. He didn't hold her the same way, and not once have you seen him look into her eyes. Whenever she would talk to him, he was looking somewhere else. The way he would touch her wasn't the same either. It kind of looks like it's an effort or as if he didn't really want to nurse her at all. He looks discontented, annoyed, angry, and sad. You smile so faintly it was barley obvious and walk away. You don't turn back, but think about the moment the whole way home.  
Something makes you happy, makes you feel relieved. Was it because he didn't look as happy with her as he was with you? You know its bad to think that, but you can't help it. You could tell he wasn't in love with her. You didn't want him to be in love with her. Evan though you're not with him, deep down you still want him to be happy, and he can't be happy with an awful person like her.  
When you arrive home, you have a shower and hop into your pyjamas. You sit on the lounge watching tv, still thinking about kiba. All you ever seem to think about in your spare time is him. Your heart still aches, still crave to be close to his. You yearn for hs touch, his taste, his smell. You had never met anyone like him, and he meant everything to you. Sometimes you wonder if he ever thinks about the afternoons you used to spend together; laughing, smiling, and caring.  
But maybe he didn't think about it at all. Maybe he just thought about his and clara's future, not yours and his past. Maybe he didn't miss anything at all, and just gets on with his life, which is exactly what you should do to.  
You rubbed your hand over the healing scar underneath your rib cage. Your thoughts run back to the day it happened, when he put his life on the line to save yours. You can remember every emotion you were feeling. The funny thing is, you weren't worried because you could have died, you were worried because you thought he was going to get hurt. You were scared for his life, scared of losing him. He would of did anything for you back then, but now it was different. Now he was devoted to clara, and you cringe just thinking about it. She is a horrible person, so self obsessed and thinks she is so much higher than everyone else. How could someone as amazing as kiba be with someone like her? A tear rolls slowly down your cheek as you turn off the TV and head up to your awaiting bed. You hope into your cold sheets, and whisper to yourself_, i miss you._

Chapter 17- The Chunin exams

Today was the big day. The first part of the chunin exams.  
You get out of bed, brush your hair, have breakfast, brush your teeth and get dressed into your training gear_. Wow, i can't believe you're becoming a chunin_ you say to yourself. You walk eagerly down the road to the academy, where you will be arranged into teams with the other genin from around the country. Your heart pounds with excitement, as you so badly want to prove that you are strong, that you want so badly to be respected. You start to think about how strong the others have become, and wonder if they are as excited as you.  
your mind then thinks of kiba, wondering if he had gotten stronger. Because after all, he left you to focus on that in the first place.  
you try to not focus on him, because this exam means alot to you and you don't need distractions.  
As you meet up with Naruto and Shikamaru, Ancho walks to the front of the crowed, staring at the large crowd of excited leaf Genin, and begins to speak.  
"You all know what you are here for. Today is he day that you will prove to us that you want to be chunin" she starts. "In a moment, we will introduce you to the other chunin from around the country an assort you into teams. There is, although, 1 rule you must follow during the phase of the exam. During your mission to the fighting arena, you are not allowed to hurt or attempt to kill any of the Genin you are teamed with, no matter what the disagreement is that you may have with them. You can, though, do what you must to stop other teams from reaching the arena. Students from the leaf, i would like you to meet your team mates."  
As Ancho introduces the other Genin, you stare as they enter. They are all unique in every way, every one looking just as strong and as eager as you do. After they all entered, supervising Jonin started to call out the teams.

"Team 21" he began to say. "Castelle from weaponry caves. Iya, from the Fire Village. Yinshamaru, from the earth village, and Zarae from the leaf village."  
You glance around to view the genin that stand. It was an all girls team, but a strong looking one. A hand taps you on the shoulder, and you turn around to see who it is. Its Kakashi, and he looks down at you, smiling. "So, i guess this is your team." He says.  
"Yep, looks pretty strong, huh." You say, once again glancing at the students as they talk to their senseis. Kakashi pulls out a book, and sits down next to you.  
"I suppose you would like to know a bit about them, wouldn't you?" he asks. You stare at him, confused. "What do you mean?" you reply.  
"Well, in this book is a profile for each of the genin that are attending the exams. Every sensei has one, so there is no doubt that they will be reading your profile to your team mates now."  
You smile and fold your arms. "Well read away Kakashi." You say cheekily.  
"What one would you like to here about first?"  
you look around at the girls who are standing around the classroom. All of them are talking privately with their sensei's, most likely doing the same thing you are. You point at one girl who has browny-red mid length hair. She wears dull orange pants, with a black T-shirt. Attached to the side of her pants were two brass chains. "That one." You say.  
"That girls name is Castelle, and she is a descendent from weaponry caves. Her sensei is kansura, one of the three leaders which control the caves. Their lifestyle is harsh, and their fighting style revolves around weapons of different kinds. Some they make, and some are everyday ones that you and i use. When weaponry cave students turn 5, Kansura's job is to collect them and abandon them somewhere deep inside the caves with nothing but a selected weapon of her choice. There, they stay there for 7 years, fighting for nothing but their lives. When they are 12, kansura comes back to collect the ones that survived, and there training continues from there."  
"wow, thats harsh..." you say, shocked.  
"well, some clans are. But continuing on. Castelle wields a rare weapon called the brass chains. One of these chains are short, mainly used for close range defence. The other is fairly long, used for many forms of attack including long range. They would be something to watch out for, because They are extremely painful if you are struck by them. Trying to cut them with Kunai would be a waste of time, because they are very tough. Not many people succeed in using these chains, so to already master them by her age is amazing."  
You stare at Castelle. You watch the way she interacts with her sensei. She looks very distant, very quiet and moody. "What do you thinks wrong with her?" you ask Kakashi.  
"Well, if you were by yourself for 7 years in dark and dangerous caves, you would be pretty unsocial too, wouldn't you? And once again, kansura is a harsh trainer. She would of shown no mercy while training them and she would have been very strict."  
you glance arund the room looking for the other girls who are on your team. "What about that one?" you ask, pointing to another girl across the room. She wears long black torn pants, with a brown singlet top. She has long black hair which hangs to about her ribcage, and wears her headband across her eyes.  
"That one is Iya from the Fire village. the story goes that when she was very young, her brother tryed to kill her. Her brother is also here today, and he has the ability to control temperature and flames. He tried to burn her eyes out but was stopped from one of his parents. She is permently blind, but has an unbelievable sence of touch and can feel vibrations and movements from miles away. her sensei is Trezuka Yomori, a well known Jonin who fought in the last great war. She is also here to make sure Iya and her brother alaki are separated at all times. Iya's specialty is unknown, but what i can tell you is that she is a very powerful defender. I don't want you to think she is a push over just because she is blind."  
you nod and take in all the information he has. Iya just sits there, isolated from every one_. This girl kinda freaks you out..._ You then point to the last girl on your team, a blonde girl with hair like yours. Its short at the back, with a side fringe. She wears dark yellow pants with a khaki green hoodie. "The last girl is Yinshamaru from the earth village. Actually, from reading this information, she sounds an awful lot like you..." says Kakashi.  
"What do you mean?" you ask, staring up at him.  
"This girl is very fast and is a strong attacker. Remind you of anyone?"  
you laugh and tell him to tell you more about the girl. "According to this, she has incredible stamina, and the ability to fight very well in any surroundings. But a low point is, she is lazy. So that's a plus or you."  
You stare at Yinshamaru. She mucks around with one of her friends from her village, pretending to spare. She looks very fun loving, and almost looks like a bit of a goof. She reminds you of Naruto!  
"Well, that's all i got. But just one more reminder.." he starts to say. "You need to watch out for that wound of yours. Keep it covered and try not to let anyone see it, because they will target it if you have to end up battling them."  
"Ok, i will." You reply. He also tells you to not go and use any of your jutsu in front of them, because they will then be prepared for it if you have to fight them. 

Shikamaru walks over to where your standing, looking really annoyed. "what wrong?" you ask him.  
"Ive been put on a team with shona from hidden forest village." he groans.  
"who is that?" you ask, not having a clue who he is talking about. He points to a girl standing to the right of the room. She is wearing dark purple pants with a green singlet top, and has short, dark, flicky hair with green streaks. She looks very confident, and is talking seriously to her sensei.  
"She is a girl i used to know when i was little. My dad had to buy deer from her family or something, i don't know. But she is the most moodiest, bossiest, short tempered person i know. She thinks she's so great because her sensei is one of the great mantis summoners. She has the ability to control vines and plant roots as well, so that makes her even more cocky. Argh, i new this was going to be a drag...." he groans as he leans back on the table, rubbing his temples.  
"Aw, come on Shikamaru. She can't be that bad, its only a few days and then you don't have to worry about her" you assure him.  
"Now listen up you maggots!" bellows Ancho from the front of the classroom. "It's time to begin the exams!"

Chapter 18- The 3rd night

Its is your third night in the middle of the forest, and you are not far away from the arena. You and the rest of team 21 are sitting around the fire in your camp.  
"we're lucky we haven't came across any other teams yet" says Yinshamaru. "Although i think that we would of smashed them if we did!" she adds.  
You smile. "Good to see your thinking positive!" you reply. Castelle and Iya didn't say anything. Infact, you haven't really heard them speak for the whole 3 days you have been walking. They get up and walk to their tents, without saying a word.  
"Gee, pretty un social, huh?" Yinshamaru says.  
"Yeah, tell me about it. I'm glad i was put on a team with at least one person that speaks!" you laugh. She smiles and turns to you. "So you're the saiyan, aren't you?" she asks.  
"Yeah, I am. But most people refer to me as 'the brat'." You reply. She laughs, and reaches out her hand. "Well i don't care what you are, i think your funny!"  
you shake it and smile. You liked this girl. She reminded you of a few of your friends from the leaf village. She's a tomboy, and has the same fighting style as you. She's lazy like Shikamaru, but energetic and confident like Naruto. You stayed up for hours, talking about some of the other genin you saw back at the academy. You tell her about Naruto, and how she reminds you of him.

The next day the team set off again, and before you know it you and the rest of team 21 arrive at the arena. You set up your tents out the back, because the second phase was going to take another 2 days. You can see a few other teams that have arrived, some without a scratch on them. You scan around the room, looking for anyone that you know. You spot Saskue's team and also hinata's. you start to talk with Hinata; about the mission through the forest and your team mates, about some of the encounter's with other teams. As you are talking with her, you notice another team enter the arena. Its clara's team.  
"Well well well," she begins to say. "The worthless saiyan made it after all. Its kind of a shock that you made it before me. I didn't think you could hack it at all." She grins.  
"That just proves you don't know anything about me." You scowl. She stands infront of you and laughs. "i don't know a lot about you, but one thing i do know is that your ex boy friend is now my man, and he dumped your ass for good."  
You immediately stand up, and raise your fist. Hinata tells you not to hit her, but before you could finish hearing her it was to late. You hit clara in the face, and send her flying to the ground. She gets up, and holds her jaw. "You psycho!" she yells, holding back the pain. You cant help but laugh to yourself. _That feels so much better_. She gets up and walks toward you. "You're gonna regret that." She sneers. You smile, and brush your side fringe off your face. "Really? Because right now i feel pretty damn good."  
As you watch her storm off, you realise kiba walking through the door. _Good, he made it too_. You had been a little worried about him the whole trip, but new that he would make it. He see's clara with her sensei, but doesn't bother to go over to her. Huh_? She obviously looks in pain, so why isn't he comforting her?_ He just walks away and sits down at a seat by himself. You smile. Something inside you is happy that he doesn't see to her. She doesn't deserve it anyway.  
a few more teams enter the arena, and you notice a few people from the leaf village are part of them. You see Ino, Naruto, Shikamaru, Shino, Choji and Sakura. As you greet them (All but sakura) you here a siren and the doors to the arena shut. "Congratulation's" a voice says from the front of the stadium. "You have officially passed the first phase of the chunin exams."

Chapter 19- Zarae verses Shona

"Everyone will be given a number. When two numbers are drawn out of the box, we will write them on the board and the number opposite you will be the number of the person you verse. The first drawn numbers will be the first battle." Says Ibiki from the front of the arena. All the genin start to line up and retrieve a number from the supervising jonin.  
_Number 8._ You walk over to the board, where you scan your eyes over it looking for your number. You see it, and glance at the number beside yours. _Number 33._  
"Who do you think it is?" you ask Yinshamaru, who is also busy looking for her number. "I'm not sure, but it says here that I'm versing number 16."  
You look round at the crowded stadium of genin. You could be versing any one of these guys, so You desperately want to see who your versing seeing that because your fight is the first fight.  
"Will the first drawn match please enter the middle of the stadium" yells Ibiki. You make you way to the middle of the arena, where you see your opponent. It is Shona, the girl Shikamaru was complaining about at the beginning of the exam.  
"So it looks like i have the saiyan." She says to you. " i expected a challenge, but obviously didn't get one."  
Your blood starts to boil. What _the hell was with everyone underestimating you?_  
"Shut up and fight." You say dryly, as you remember about what Shikamaru had told you_. She has the ability to control vines and plant roots. _You glance around the battleground, looking for any site of plantation. All you can see is concrete, so how was she going to battle?  
she starts running towards you, one hand resting on her belt. You stand your ground, waiting for the first attack.

"How do you think she will go Kakashi." Says Saskue. "Think she will win?"  
Kakashi glances down at the battle from the stand. "Of course she does!" yells Naruto. "She will kick this girls but!"  
"she has been training hard over the past few months. She should do well, but there's no telling what will happen." Says Kakashi. All your team mates look down at your battle, amazed by how much you have progressed. "Her taijutsu is amazing." Says Saskue. As you easily dodge all shona's punches, you quickly dart behind her and eelbow her in the back. She falls forward, and starts signalling hand signs. Suddenly, two long vines emerge from her belt.  
"how did you do that?" you yell, confused. There was not one piece of plant life in the stadium at all, so how could she be controlling it?  
"Inside this belt strapped around my waste,, i have about 1 thousand plant seeds. By contolling my chakra to them, i can enhance their growth. So i don't need any plants to be around the battling area as long as i have this belt. But i think this would all be to confusing for a stupid saiyan like you!" she hurls her vines toward you, but you quickly jump in the air. You grab them with your hands, and swing back down to the ground. You go to swing them at the wall, hoping that she will go hurling into it aswell. But as you go to balance yourself, you feel as i your feet are wired to the ground. You glance down, to find that she has used roots to emerge from beneath you and seize down your feet. "damn..." you say as you think of something to get you out of this mess.  
"Its over, just give up!" she yells. You grab a kunai knife from your pocket, releasing one of the vines from your hands. It wraps around your waste, but that was after you cut the roots that were attached to your feet. You feel the vine squeeze around your ribcage, making it difficult to breathe. It then tosses you to the left, sending you smashing into a wall. As you hit it hard, you feel your wound underneath you ribcage split open, and the pains excruciating. You clasp it, and look at the blood on your hand. _If it keeps bleeding this heavy, you're going to pass out from blood loss_. You quickly dart towards shona, and as you are inches away from her face, use your speed to shift direction so quickly she doesn't even see it. "I guess I was a challenge after all." You say, as you deliver one final blow to the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious. She falls to the ground, and Ibiki rises from his chair.  
"The winner of this match, Zarae from the village hidden in the leaves."  
The crowd cheers loudly, but you weren't going to stay and listen. You needed to get some bandages from your tent to stop the bleeding.  
As you dash from the arena, kiba see's you grab your wound.

"Where the hell is it!" you say as you scavenge through your back pack. You couldn't find anything to stop the bleeding, and you weren't going to tell Kakashi. If you told him, they would take you from the competition and escort you back to the hospital to get it re-stitched. And that wasn't about to happen.  
You look at the blood on your hands. There was a lot. Everything started to go blurry again, so you picked up your nearest piece of clothing and wrapped it around your injury. "Shit, what am I going to do?" you whisper to yourself. The tent started to spin, as a result to your loss of blood. You start to lose balance and collapse on the tent floor, blacking out.

Chapter 20- reminiscing

You wake up, and glance down at your wound. It had a bandage wrapped tightly around it, and it felt much better. You sit up, and look around the tent you were sleeping in. It wasn't yours. Suddenly, you see a hand unzip the zipper from the outside, and kiba enters. Your heart stops.  
"WH-what are you doing here...." you say, shying away.  
"Uh, I saw you run out of the arena earlier, and I saw that you were clenching your scar... I thought I would go and check up on you and the next thing i knew you were passed out on your tent floor." You pick at the sheets on the tent bed. "Thanks..." you say softly. He walks over and sits on the bed beside you. "Zarae, i miss you like crazy." He says, looking away. You freeze, and pinch yourself to make sure you're not dreaming.  
"Really?" you reply quietly, looking up to meet his gaze. His eyes start to look glassy, as he begins to speak.  
"Z, I am sorry for what I did to you. I was wrong... i was so stupid... i fucked up. You were my everything, and I let you go just because of my stupid mom. I loved you more than anything in the world, and I still do. I am so sorry Zarae...."  
He runs his hands through his hair, and uses the other one to wipe away a tear falling down his cheek.  
"If you still love me, then why are you with Clara..." you say as your eyes start to fill with tears. He leans back, and lays next to you.  
"I don't want to be with her. I don't have one feeling for her. There is no connection at all, nothing like what we used to have. Every night i would go to sleep, only wishing I was lying next to you. Wishing that I could cuddle up to you and kiss you like we used to. I craved it every night. I miss your smile, your laugh, and the way you used to touch me. I want all of it back, because i can't go another day knowing you're not with me..."  
"I missed it to kiba. You broke my heart, and i cried myself to sleep every night for day's only wishing that i could have you back. You were the only thing that kept me happy, made me strong. And when you left, i was nothing..."  
Tears stream down your face. There was a moment of silence and he rested his hand on top of yours. You look up, only to find him staring into your eyes, just like he used to.  
"I love you Zarae. I always have, and I always will. I promised you that i would never hurt you, and i did. As much as you shouldn't take me back, my heart aches to be next to yours, i want you so bad..."  
you wipe away a tear from your eye. "Wanting isn't the same as needing kiba," you quietly say.  
"Your right, it isn't. But in my case, it may as well be. I can't live without you."  
You shuffle close to him, as he wraps his arms around your waste. You lie there, gazing into each other's eyes, just like you used to. You feel this wave of warmth wash over you, as you take in every familiar position and thought.  
"I promise i will never hurt you again. I want to be with you forever."  
He leans into you, kissing you tenderly. You took in one last breath before you cradle his face with your hands. You listen to his breathing, listen to his heartbeat. You take in-once again- his smell, his taste, his touch. He runs his fingers across your belly, down onto your thigh. He pulls you closer to him, brushing his thumb across your temple. "I never want to let you go." He whispers.  
"Then don't...Lie here with me forever."  
"That," he begins to say, "Is all I want to do.

Epilogue

You wake up, and the sun is shining bright. But an even brighter thing is the smile on your face. Today is the day you finally become a Chunin! You jump out of bed and put on your black baggy pants, (the ones that are super comfy) and your electric blue boob tube. You give your short black hair a brush, have some breakfast, brush your teeth and run out the door as fast as you can. You keep running until you reach the academy, where everyone is just as excited as you are.  
"There's my baby girl" says kiba, as he wraps his arms around you from behind. You rest your arms on his and smile. Life was so much better now that you were back together. You are both happier than ever before, except or Clara. Kiba ended it with her and she went back to her other academy for good, never returning to the leaf village again.  
"Attentions Students" yells lady hokage from the front of the stage. You all turn to face her, waiting to retrieve your Chunin vests.

After the ceremony, you say goodbye to everyone and walk over to kiba. "What do you want to do for the rest of the day?" you ask him, as you hold his hands in yours.  
"Anything, as long as it's with you." He says smiling. He leans in and kisses you as you giggle.  
"How corny!" You laugh, and he laughs to.  
You decide that you will spend the rest of the day together going for a walk. And just like old times, you wrestle and muck around laughing. As you lay on a grassy hill somewhere in the forest, he tells you something. "Come on, let's go. There's a place I want to take you."  
"Is it the waterfall?" you ask.  
"No, it's not as pretty as that, but it's more important."  
He grabs your hand and you walk for a few minutes deeper into the forest, until you come out onto an open grassy plain. The sun shines down onto the glittering fields, and the wind blows the long grass back and forth as if they were dancing. Birds and animals frolic in the distance, embracing what was left of the warm summer sun before it went down.  
"It's Beautiful!" you say as cradles you from behind. What is it called?"  
he kisses you on your cheek and smiles. "This is Inuzuka fields. It belongs to my clan and has been in it for generations."  
Your eyes scan across the amazing location in front of you. Kiba takes hold of your hand and leads you onto a small grassy hill in the middle of the field. You talk and laugh as the sun sets, and you cuddle each other close. He strokes your hair, and kisses you forehead while you look at the glistening night stars above you. Something then reminds you about what Ino told you all those months ago. _Has kiba bitten you yet?_  
You turn to face kiba, your arms wrapped around him comfortably.  
"Kiba..." you begin to say.  
"Yeah babe?" he replies, moving closer to you. At first you hesitate, wonder if you should bring the topic up at all. But you go with your heart, and ask him about it.  
"You love me, don't you?" you ask him quietly.  
"Of course i do, more than anything in the world." He replies, kissing you tenderly. You slowly pull away and stare into his eyes. "Then if you do, you would mark me, right?" your voice trembles with nerves. You are scared in case he gets mad again, or if he will reject you. Your heart pounds and he moves on top of you. He moves slowly towards your neck, stoping just millimetres away from it_. He is actually going to do it._ You brace yourself, tensing your body. As he moves even closer, he kisses it gently, not biting it at all.  
"I will in time Z. You're still only young, and i am not going to putt you through that pain just yet. I love you too much to do it, Z. But I promise, I promise I will eventually. But tonight can wait. I love you Zarae, always and forever.

THE END


End file.
